Grant could only sit there stunned silent for a good five minutes before he finally spoke.

“Alright, unless you’ve somehow planted false memories into my head, I have no choice to believe you. What does this mean for my world?

Why did we get chosen for this game; Fate’s Glory?

And what the hell am I supposed to do now?

Clearly the voice didn’t like what it saw inside me when it was evaluating my potential or fate or whatever.. why is that?”

The figure sitting opposite him didn’t immediately respond to his questions, instead it raised its blurry yet defined hand towards its head and place it, seemingly on its chin as if it was thinking.

Grant could only assume that’s what it was doing because the darkness that was the figure overlapped with each other when the hand came close to its “face”.

After a few more minutes of staring at the figure and no words being exchanged between them, the hand finally left the figures chin and returned to the arm rest of the chair it was sitting in.

It was only then that the figure finally spoke.

“I have no idea!”

Grants jaw dropped.

He had expected some profound answer in response to his questions. Something like, ‘Your world was chosen because it stores the power of the gods deep within and they wish to harness that power by using these Earthlings! Unfortunately, you are the son of an outcast god and have been deemed detrimental to their future plans!’

But instead, frankly, he got an answer that was no better than not receiving a response.

Now Grant was even more frustrated.

“What do you mean you don’t know?! You brought me here and based on the pressure you’re exuding and the skills you have displayed, you are clearly a very strong individual.

Why would you even bother bringing me here if you don’t have any information?!”

Grants voice got progressively louder and louder the longer he spoke.

By the end, he was practically screaming.

Yes, he was frustrated at the lack of answers, but more so, he was scared for the people of his world and his parents.

Had they lost free will?

Would their personalities and the individual characteristics that make them who they are, cease to exist so that they could play their ‘role’ as NPC’s better?

Grant’s rampant thoughts were only interrupted when the figure finally spoke, “I do not know the answers to your questions because I am not a god or goddess. I was not involved in the process of choosing your world nor do I know why you have been singled out by the System that governs the game for the gods and goddesses.

All I know, is that I sensed a fluctuation in the streams of fate and destiny when the System first emerged in your world.

It has been a millennium since anything has influenced those streams enough to cause a fluctuation, so I took advantage of the situation and brought you here.”

Two things in that statement surprised him.

First, he was almost 100% certain that the figure sitting across from him was either a god or goddess but if what he or she had said was true, then how strong must someone be to read the flows of fate and destiny?

Grant knew he wouldn’t get an answer even if he asked so he didn’t even bother.

The second thing that surprised him was that the figure seemed to be claiming it had been alive for at least a millennium…

He had never heard of anyone living for more than a few hundred years even at the peak of power in his world.

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How in the hell did someone live that long? How strong would they have to be?

Once again Grant felt the urge to ask but figured he wouldn’t get an answer with how evasive the figure had been so far with his questions, so he simply asked the only thing that truly mattered at the moment.

“Alright, what do I do next? Clearly, you’ve set forth the effort to save me from this so called System and the gods and goddeses that control it and I would like to know why.”

In a rather creepy showing, the darkness on the figures face receded just enough for a massive toothy grin to appear. Rather than the squared off edges of a human’s teeth, the figures teeth were more like a ferocious predator’s; jagged, spikey, and barbed. They looked as if they could tear the flesh off a bear with little to no effort.

Grant shuddered at the sight of this ‘smile’.

“What do you do next you ask?

You fight.

You kill.

You grow.

And never hesitate to take advantage of those Earthlings.

They will be able to revive from the dead and some of them will strive for no less than the peak of the world, the same as you have dreamed of until now.

Ride them to the top and free your world from enslavement.

Reach for Glory: it is your Fate.”

Grant felt a chill run down his spine at those words.

It is my fate?

At those words, Grant finally revealed his own toothy grin.

One man and one shadow of a man, sat opposite one another at the table, with massive grins on each of their faces for a few seconds; before they both burst out laughing.

Grant could feel a budding desire to become stronger, to fight for glory, to win honor, and to rise to the apex of the world and then; continue further.

It had been his dream even before the gods and goddesses had forsaken his world.

But the idea that his mother and father were now puppets to a race he didn’t even know because they needed a place to ‘play’ was enough for something inside him to break.

It was no longer about himself; it was about his world.

Instead of just the weight of his and his brothers dreams on his shoulders, he now carried the weight of the world.

He was essentially alone in a world filled with people.

And it was his duty to free those people now.

“From this moment forth, I will forsake the gods and goddesses who allowed my world to become another’s playground and I will fight with every fiber of my being to end their reign and return the people of this world their freedom!”

The smile on the figures face opposite Grant only grew louder at those words.

Whether Grant was being used by the figure or not, he didn’t care.

If he became strong enough to topple the gods and goddesses, then it didn’t matter what he had to do to obtain that strength.

He would free his parents and the world; whatever the cost.

“Have you steeled yourself young man?

To regain the freedom of this world will not be easy.

The road will be long and filled with happiness, sadness, death, and betrayal.

Are you prepared?”

Grant didn’t answer, instead he just stared at the figure with a fire burning deep within his eyes. His answer was clear.

“Good. Your goal may be lofty, but you are not even worthy of being called an ant in the eyes of the gods and goddesses.

Since I pulled you out of your world, the system governing Fate’s Glory will believe that you have been permanently removed.

When you are returned to your world, you will regain access to the system, but I have tweaked your existence enough that the system will deem you nothing more than an anomaly. You will fall into a grey area as far as the system is concerned.

It will recognize you as an NPC but you will be given access to tools that the players themselves gain when they appear in this world.

Since individuals in your world exist that were deemed worthy of freedom of choice by the system due to their strength, it will overlook your existence and merely view you as one of them.

Although they have been deemed worthy of freedom of choice, they will not be completely out of the system’s realm of control.

Only you will have the freedom of choice.

You will not have to choose between being a player and a non-player character, the system will fuse the two functions together to allow you to interact with everyone and reap the greatest rewards.

Any questions?”

Grant was momentarily overwhelmed by the information. He had not expected the figure in front of him to go so far for him.

The fact that the figure was able to manipulate the system meant that he was at least on par with the gods and goddesses even if he wasn’t one of them himself.

Who was he?

How was he capable of doing the things he said he had done?

How did he escape the detection of the gods and goddesses even after meddling with their system so much?

Before Grant could even open his mouth however, the figure raised his hand.

“You will know in time.”

Grant could only open and close his mouth a few times, lost for words.

Did the figure just read his mind or something?

“I wouldn’t call it mind reading. More or less it’s a skill to deduce the intentions of others. If you’re lucky, maybe you will learn it one day.

Alright, the time to talk is over, it appears as if the system has finished altering your world.

It is time for you to return and begin your journey.

Good luck!”

Grant wanted to ask a few more questions, but before he could, the figure in front of him flipped his raised hand over and snapped his middle finger and thumb together.

The world suddenly became a swirling mixture of colors and sounds before it all went black; he had fallen unconscious again.

This time however, when he regained his consciousness, he did so without any immense pain or overwhelming fear.

That was because the energy that had assaulted him the first time he fell unconscious was absent this time and after having raised himself up off the ground, he found himself in a familiar place.

He was once again outside his parents front gate.

While his heart was aflutter with concern for his parents, he quickly scrambled to his feet, swung open the gate, and ran towards their front door.

All the while ignoring the onslaught of notifications appearing within his mind.